Contents

General information

Standard kitchen aluminum foil works very well for solar cooking reflectors.

The most common reflective material used in homemade solar cookers is plain aluminum foil. This can be glued very well with white glue or wheat paste.

Mylar is a brand name used by the DuPont corporation to identify thin polyester plastic films that it makes. Actually, DuPont and a Japanese company have created a joint company called DuPont Teijin Films to handle the polyester film business.

It also appears that many large companies in different parts of the world produce similar products. It also appears that some companies may buy the polyester film from companies such as DuPont and then add the aluminum coating themselves, before distributing to consumers. In other words, there may be dozens, scores or hundreds of companies that sell polyester films with aluminum coating. This may make it very impractical to trace a supplier for you in Port Harcourt through the manufacturers, which is what I tried to do in my email to DuPont Teijin.

Solar cooker experimenters in Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Peru and Bolivia have all found that gift wrap can be found easily that can be used for making reflective surfaces for solar cookers. Glues made from flour and water or "wheat paste" work well enough to hold the gift wrap onto the CooKit. The gift wrap is like a mirror on one side (the aluminum) and a color on the other side. So, if I can't find better information through DuPont Teijin, you might find that just shopping for shiny gift wrap is the most practical solution.

A funnel cooker made out of wood, using old beer and drink cans (cut open, flattened and then stapled to the wood) as reflectors

From the information I currently have, it seems that these polyester products are not suitable for lining the inside of a solar box cooker, because of the danger that at the temperatures inside the box-type cooker, the polyester would melt or at least give off foul smelling foods. I am told that this problem does not necessarily show up the first time one uses a cooker made with these materials--that it may show up after five or ten or twenty uses.

Therefore, I would suggest that the polyester or gift wrap material only be used for CooKits or for the reflectors on box cookers that are outside the box.

Also note that most metals cannot be polished enough to be reflective enough for solar cooking. One exception is anodized aluminum. Metallic paints usually do NOT reflect well enough. We polish the assembled cooker of sheets. We do the polishing in two ways:

Professional buffing service

On our own. This is very crude way but works. First we polish the surface with fine cloth and fine tooth powder and then with one localy found polishing liquid. Results are quite satisfying. For repolishing we use liquid polish only.

Reflective material possibilities

Here is a comprehensive list of various inexpensive reflective materials that are available for solar cooker construction. Table of Reflector Materials

Use the foil from cigarette packages

Most cigarette packages have a inner foil liner. Collect these and use them in a patchwork fashion to create a reflective surface.

Mirrors made from decal/stickers

Chrome mirror sign vinyl is excellent for most solar cooking applications where the material itself is not touch the hottest part. It is made to be used on business signs and is designed to stand up to many trips to the car wash. This material can turn nearly anything into a powerful mirror. You can find it on the internet. You must use phrases like "Chrome mirror sign vinyl", or, ""Mirror sign vinyl, or Gold sign vinyl. This material is available in a self-adhesive roll. You can find short rolls or long and wide rolls. The rolls start at inchers in width to feet in width. Apply it with soapy water in the same way as window tint. After some exposure to warmth, the soap vanishes and your mirrors will stick for years. Keep them shiny with wax, oil, Scott's liquid gold, experiment with it.

A flexible cutting board could make a good mirror. When finished cutting the underside of the cutting board may have a mirror on it to help cook the food you cut up.

Think of the many shapes we have availble. Now you can turn junk into ovens and dish cookers. Here are some things I know would make terrific ovens and parabolic, and parabolic hybrids. A thermal parabolic hybrid oven will acheive temperatures hotter than needed for normal cooking, when combine with thermal cookware it is nearly dangerous.

It is dangerous. Be careful. It will take some time to adapt to your new abilities. A thermal griddle may be a griddle with ceramic tile in a sandwich of steel or aluminum. ALUMINUM COOKWARE WARNING: See: Aluminum Oxide poisoning. Aluminum loses heat so quickly too. I want my food cooked with glass and ceramic and steel. Matt West

Rescue blankets (Mylar)

Rescue blankets (or space blankets) consist of a thin plastic foil (often polyethylene terephthalate, PET) and a thin layer of aluminium (cf. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_blanket). The silver side is the aluminium side, while the gold color on the reverse side comes from a translucent yellow tint of the plastic in combination with the front aluminium layer.

Such material is similar in cost as aluminium foil or self-adhesive vinyl stickers, large formats are common (e.g. 160 by 210 cm), and the material is indended for outdoor use. Relflective accuracy is mirror-like, in contrast to aluminium foil which has fine directional grooves in the surface from production and thus reflection artefacts. Although as with self-adhesive mirror foil, the material should not be used for the hottest part of the oven, i.e. where in contact with pot or glazing. Melting point of PET is around 260°C (500°F).

Using the foil on the inside of Tetra Pak juice boxes

Kenya

Solar Cookers International East Africa Office recycles waste from Tetra Pak materials. This is a packaging making industry and sometimes they have waste which they have already prepared, this then we use as our foil. When this is not available they buy from another packaging industry called Pressmasters Ltd.

Zambia

Solar Health and Education Project (SHEP) has developed a relationship with Tetra Pak International — manufacturer of aseptic drink containers — whereby SHEP uses Tetra Pak’s excess foil-lined paper for solar cooker construction. (The foil-lined paper is printed in wide rolls, sometimes resulting in excess material begin generated.) According to SHEP, Tetra Pak is willing to accept proposals from other nongovernmental organizations that may want to use the reflective material as long as the material will be used for workshop participants to construct solar cookers.

Parabolic disk foiled with reflective tape

This photo shows how to use a Direct TV antenna as a solar cooker using reflective tape applied in strips. Photo sent by Ranyere Bezerra.

Reflective tape can be used to foil parabolic reflectors.

Lithograph printing plates

Looking for inexpensive, recycled reflective material for solar cookers? Here’s a tip from the SunStove Organization of South Africa: "Lithograph printing plates are available in every country at the government printing office, the local printer or the local newspaper. Used printing plates are sold as scrap." This scrap may be sold for the equivalent of US $1.25 per kilogram. Before using the plates in solar cookers, clean with paint thinner and water.